We have Peter in a toddler Suzuki music class that started a few weeks back, every Saturday morning for 45 minutes. He’s definitely not used to the environment, as it’s a group of about 6 little kids from about 6 months in age to maybe 3 years. The music part of the class is pretty rudimentary, primarily sing-song-y nursery rhymes and stuff like that, which you’d think is a pretty standard thing to do. There is some instrumentation, like a xylophone, a glockenspiel, a drum, some little eggs filed with beads that are like maracas without handles. Peter likes the instruments, but he’s not really into the songs so much. More than anything it bores him. Not that he doesn’t care for music, but his appreciation and understanding of music is a lot more developed than sitting in a circle clapping hands. The class this past weekend was relocated to a school that was acting as host for an area-wide Suzuki workshop, with what seemed like every adolescent violinist in a 50 mile radius packed in there. Peter heard them and wanted to go hang with them instead of doing the simplistic stuff we had brought him there to do.
The problem, if I can call it that, is that Peter has developed taste in music. I’m not going to say it’s good taste or bad taste, but it’s his own and he likes what he likes. The music he likes is the kind that moves him. Literally. If a song comes on and he likes it he’ll start dancing, or he’ll run to my leg as fast as he can and demand that I pick him up and bounce him rhythmically. Actually, sometimes I only need to say the word “dance” and he’ll zip over to my leg and want to go up. But he has become picking in the music he wants to dance to. He likes funk and some rap, and he’s recently discovered techno. However, no matter which style of music it is, if he doesn’t care for the song he’ll furrow his brow and shake his head emphatically. I have somehow taught him The Hustle (without the aid of the song, he doesn’t seem to care for the old disco sound), and sometimes if we say “Peter, do The Hustle” his fists start orbiting each other for a couple seconds.
It’s not just the usual suspects that will get him dancing, though. Yesterday in church, he started doing a slow interpretive dance to the Psalm. And we’ve seen him do a version of ballet to classical music. And I would be remiss to omit that while Peter loves all things Thomas, the only things he’s ever watched on TV without losing his attention through the entire program is Classical Baby. After every segment in Classical Baby he claps excitedly. So if we thought that by signing him up for the class we’d be teaching him music appreciation, he’s showing us that we’re way behind him in that department.
Going back to him doing The Hustle, we’ve learned that his language skills are pretty sharp, because he learned to associate that move with the words “The Hustle” after me saying it only once. And that’s not the only thing he’s been picking up so fast. Peter’s Mom and I now find ourselves S-P-E-L-L-I-N-G out words in his presence a lot now in case he hears them. Like if we were to discuss taking out for something he’d like, we would have to say something like “hey, there’s a T-H-O-M-A-S event in
His vocabulary is larger, but understanding him can be challenging. He has some made-up words he likes to repeat, like “pitchigo/ditchigo/bitchigo” (choose the starting letter of your choice, Peter does). Another thing he does is combine words, like how he’ll fuse good and wow into “guhwaaah.” He’s been working on making the TR sound, like at the beginning of truck, so he’ll usually start out with “T… t… tr… truck.” He has a pretty pronounced under bite (although, it is quite handsome, I must say), so I wonder if it’s having an effect on his attempts at speaking. Then again, he’s speaking in complete sentences, even if it’s only understandable to him.
Other random Peter things:
- He’s a backseat driver. If we don’t go the way he wants us to go he complains. Primarily on the highway. I can understand him wanting to get off at the exit that normally goes to his Grammy’s house or Aunt Trucker’s (or Bayshore, for that matter), but I’m at a loss for why he gets upset if we don’t get off at the Southbound exit at North Avenue on I-43.
- He loves the Domes. Mainly because of the train exhibit there now, but he also loves the jungle dome (especially the waterfall). He’s been there 3 times in about a month already.
- He’s also in a Montessori class with his Mom on Tuesday mornings. He is learning to focus on doing one thing at a time. Tomorrow is his 3rd time there, so I should be able to report more things about it as it goes along.
- Pitchigowaaah!
- Peter loves giving me backrubs, by climbing on my back as I’m lying down, and then slamming into my back repeatedly with his butt. It feels… great. Yeah. Uh, great.
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